


No Air

by AloneShadow



Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Category: Almost Human (TV), MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Caring Dorian, Caring Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016), Drowning, Friendship, Gen, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Hurt John Kennex, Hurt/Comfort, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:46:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26989219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AloneShadow/pseuds/AloneShadow
Summary: Breathing is underestimated.[This fic is not a crossover]
Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948396
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober prompts used: N 13, Oxygen Mask + N 20, Lost.
> 
> Not a crossover. Chapter 1 is for MacGyver; chapter 2 is for Almost Human. I couldn't decide which fandom to use with these prompts since I've come up with two fics, so- why not both?

Mac kicked the door down after two attempts, and more smoke welcomed him on the sixth floor of the unknown building.

“Jack!” he called, coughing, but no one answered. He forced himself to keep moving. 

He could still remember Jack, himself, and the SWAT team raiding the center of a terrorist organization they needed to dismantle, and everything was going as planned until something hit Mac on the back of his head, and, next thing he knew, he was waking up in a building he didn’t know- and apparently on fire: there was a distant creaking of fire all around him, but he hadn’t seen flames yet, just smoke. Lot and lot of smoke that was making his eyes cry and his throat start to burn. 

Coughing, he moved towards a window but it was night outside, and there were no visible lights. 

_They couldn't bring me too far,_ Mac thought, looking for the stairs. _The SWAT secured the perimeter… If there was a breach, Jack would know by now._

“Come on, Jack… A building on fire is hard to miss,” he murmured and then coughed, still sending hopeful glance at every window. 

He looked around to find something useful, but the lack of light wasn't helping, and nothing seemed worth his time. 

As he continued coughing, he finally spotted the staircase. Quickly moving towards it, he then carefully started descending into the dark, holding on the banister with a hand. 

Reaching the floor below, he could tell the air was getting warmer.

Going further down, Mac stopped and looked down, and started to see an orange light appearing on the walls. “That’s not good…” he murmured descending another floor and looking around: still nothing useful, and it was still too high to use the windows to escape. 

_Maybe I can make it to the entrance_ , he thought moving back to the stairs, just when something exploded below, making the whole building tremble, flames suddenly rushing up the stairs towards him. Mac fall back and covered his head with an arm, smelling something burning. 

As he dragged himself away, he patted on his arm, finding the fabric of his shirt partially burnt, and stronger, higher flames making their way into the floor. 

Coughing more, Mac stood and make a run for it, going back upstairs. Looking down, he could tell the first floors were long gone, and, considering the terrible conditions of the place, it wouldn’t have taken long for the entire building to burn down. 

Mac stopped to think for a second: no way to contact the world outside the building; nothing to use to save his life- and no Jack on sight. 

His shoulders dropped, and all he could do was coughing again, blindly going up another floor while the flames were getting closer, and the smoke thicker. 

Halfway up the staircase, Mac realized it was becoming hard to breathe. He tried to cover his mouth and nose with an arm, but the smoke was just too much, he could barely keep his eyes open. 

With his vision getting blurry, he missed a step and fell forward, hitting painfully on it with an elbow. 

Glancing down, he could see the flames quickly rising, destroying everything on their path. 

He wasn’t breathing anymore, but just taking in some air in while coughing. 

As he grabbed the banister to push himself up, he gasped as the metal burned his hand and he fell down on his ass again, keeping the injured hand closer to his chest. 

He kept coughing and coughing until he was sure he would have started coughing blood- and then something was pressed over his face, making him jump in fear and fight back. 

“Hey- it’s me! Mac, it’s me!” Jack reassured him, holding him by a shoulder. 

Mac realized Jack was keeping an oxygen mask on him: he was able to breathe again, and gulping air too fast made him cough again. 

“It’s ok, I got you. Sorry for keep you wanting.” Jack smiled, coughing a bit himself, and then took his burned hand. “Really? I left you alone for twenty minutes-“ 

“Where- where’s your mask?” Mac asked, noticing he wasn’t wearing it. 

“They had only one available. Come on.” He helped him to stand, “Our flight is waiting on the roof, and we better leave before this place crumbles down under our feet.” 

“You need-” Mac coughed again, trying to take a deep breath, “You need it too. It’s- three floors to the roof…” and moved to give him the mask.

“Hey, no- I’m fine, you need it more than I do." Jack said gently stopping him, "Keep that brain fresh and clear, ok?” He added with a grin, carrying him up the stairs. 

Mac wanted to insist, but then just nodded, accepting the help. Just knowing that Jack was there was enough to keep him calm... It was easier to breathe with him around.


	2. No Air Pt. 2

John had no idea where those tugs were taking him. 

Once he got out of the car and started chasing the suspect, he managed to turn a few corners before something suddenly hit him in the face, and all he could see from there were stars and flowery hills- until he woke up, handcuffed, facing the wall of a vehicle in the movement. 

Groaning, John tried to move, shutting his eyes at the pain coming from the side of his head. He could smell blood, and almost certainly it was his own. 

“They’re still following us!” Someone yelled. 

“Turn that way!” 

John’s body slipped to the right, and he gasped in pain as his head hit the wall. “Hey…” he called, but then something crashed against the vehicle, making him roll a few times. 

“Watch out!” 

“Stop here, we’ll drop him off!” 

Before John could say anything, hands were grabbing him, pulling him up, and he heard a door sliding open. 

Clearing his vision, John saw the city not too far ahead. “Well, thanks for the-“ he stopped as he noticed the river below, and held his breath as he was shoved off the van, falling down a bridge and into the ice-cold water. 

Everything happened so fast, and it was so unexpected, it took John a moment to realize he was going to drown, his hand still handcuffed; his legs were free, but that wasn’t enough to make him swim as fast as he needed. His head was still hurting, and he had no idea where he was while he could feel the current taking him away. 

He tried to hold his breath as much as possible but, inevitably, started releasing it, shutting his eyes, pulling on the handcuffs. 

_“This is the end. This is how it ends?”_ his brain kept screamed, while all he could do was kick the water. 

In the end, he ran out of oxygen and he started to panic- until two hands grabbed him by the shoulders and something was pressed on his face. 

“John, you need to breathe.” 

John realized there was air for him again and started coughing, trying his best not to choke on his own breathing. Carefully opening his eyes, he found out he was able to see because Dorian was keeping an oxygen mask on him, one of the kind he saw on Rudy’s lab, the transparent, plastic ones, carefully covering his whole face. 

Dorian was floating in front of him, smiling when their eyes met. “I’ll free your hands, ok?” 

John could hear his voice slightly muffled, but clear nonetheless, even underwater, and nodded weakly, watching the android moving behind him, still keeping the mask on his face with one hand while using the other to break the handcuff’s chain. Once free, John put both hands on the mask, taking deep breaths while Dorian took his arm and dragged him upwards.

Back on the surface, John was still feeling too dizzy to look around. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, he sat on his knees and took off the mask, coughing hard enough to hurt his throat.

“Keep it on,” Dorian said, gently moving it back on his face, but the detective shook his head. “John, you almost drowned. You need it. Keep it on.” 

John coughed again, and eventually given up and obeyed. The oxygen given from the mask felt good, and he slowly stopped coughing. There wasn’t much he could do for the shaking- it was winter, after all- but at least that wasn’t going to kill him. Yet. 

As his heartbeat slowed down as well, he looked at his partner: Dorian was checking his vitals, as much as soaked as John was, but smiled a bit when their eyes met. “Took you… Long enough.” John commented weakly. 

Dorian scoffed. “Didn’t take _them_ that long to get tired of you and throw you down a bridge.” 

John smiled a bit, looking up: the tall bridge wasn’t too far, and he could consider himself lucky the fall didn’t kill instantly. Taking a long deep breath into the mask, he looked back at the android. “Thank you.” 

Dorian nodded, giving him his usual calm, warm smile. “You’re welcome.”


End file.
